Isolated Insanity: A L O N E

Mária Švarbová is the art director of this photographic story, A L O N E, which plays out in a psychiatric ward. We see patients and medical staff at a nostalgic, melancholic Christmas, where despite the colours, decoration and company, each character appears to inhabit a world of their own.

‘The feeling of loneliness inspired me. Every human experiences it, when they are alone.’

Maria, who features in this project herself (the girl in blue dress with red hair), has a passion for conceptual photography. In this particular series, she was toying with the idea of people as figurines- with a visible absence of emotions, an idea she has used in some previous projects.

‘A person can feel lonely even in a room with other people and objects.’

A L O N E was the result of creative teamwork, involving costume styling by Zuzana Hudakova, hair & makeup by Jarka Vladyka, and 6 models. Photographed in Slovakia, Maria’s home country, the team managed to transform a previously empty room, into gloomy, psychiatric nightmare.